OPD acting Chief Sean Whent's rise through the department

Sean Whent has risen up the ranks of the Oakland Police Department since joining it as a cadet nearly two decades ago:

1994: Whent joins the police force, while a student at then-Cal State Hayward.

1996: Whent graduates the police academy.

2003: Whent wins department's Medal of Valor for pulling woman from a burning car in East Oakland. That same year he is promoted to sergeant.

2005: Whent is transferred to work in Internal Affairs, saying in a 2011 deposition that he would have preferred to stay on the street and "arrest bad guys."

2006: Whent is promoted to lieutenant.

New interim Oakland police chief Sean Whent talks about his own history and his plans for the department in his office at the Oakland Police Department in Oakland, Calif. on Tuesday, May 14, 2013. (Laura A. Oda/Bay Area News Group)

2009: Whent is put in command of Internal Affairs.

2010: Whent is promoted to captain.

2012: Whent is promoted to deputy chief, with authority over Internal Affairs.

2013: Whent is named interim police Chief after Howard Jordan and Anthony Toribio both leave the post the same week.